John Kerry’s brand of Boston diplomacy pays off [View all]

[karynnj]

Source: Boston Globe

Secretary of State John F. Kerry turned to his Chinese counterpart at lunch last month at Legal Sea Foods’ Harborside restaurant and drew attention to the view of Boston Harbor.

The port was once a symbol of pollution, Kerry told China’s chief diplomat, Yang Jiechi. But after persistent government effort, Kerry explained, it was dramatically cleaner.


“This is a small example that shows that these big problems can and must be addressed,” Kerry told Jiechi over squash bisque, Maine cod, and Boston cream pie.

The exchange, related by a senior State Department official with direct knowledge of the Oct. 18 meeting, marked a turning point in the Obama administration’s efforts to get the world’s two biggest polluters to commit to lowering the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change.

Read more: http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/11/14/secretary-state-john-kerry-brand-boston-diplomacy-pays-off/MMTJZKyos77wBcQWXgdxEL/story.html

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Very good article explaining one piece of the effort behind Obama's important China agreement. There are many other people who had major roles in creating this agreement - including John Podestra and Todd Stern, who worked with the Chinese. Not to mention, Obama who allowed this be done by his administration.

(Having just read the book "An idea whose time had come" by Todd Purdum on how the 1964 civil rights law came to pass, I was struck by how this could be a story in a future book if this pact actually creates the change that it might possibly have in moving the world towards a new climate change agreement in the future.